Robby, he gently pulled Karen back from the starting block and whispered for her to keep an eye on Aaron and Mikie.
“I don’t want you to hold my hand no more. You can let go.”
The child’s knees were knocking together. “You don’t have to, Robbie.”
“No, it’s okay. Let go.”
Johanna did so, but stayed close, ready to step in if Robby lost his newfound courage.
Robbie took a deep breath and straightened his thin shoulders. He stood there, maybe two feet up over the water, looking very much as if he were about to attempt walking a plank.
Hunter took Karen’s place, eyes intent on his nephew.
“I’m gonna do it,” Robby announced.
“You don’t have to,” Johanna said. “I just wanted you to see what it was like this first time.”
“I’m gonna,” he insisted.
“Do you want me to get in the pool and catch you?”
Robby thought about that but evidently decided that, too, would make him a wimp in his sister’s eyes. He shook his head. “No,” he said.
“All right. If you change your mind I’m right here.”
Robby stood there, staring down into the three feet of clear water. Johanna was sure it might as well be a hundred feet deep and shark-infested. Aubrey took her hand on one side, needing the comfort an adult could provide as she remembered her own terror the first few times off the block. “Do you think he’s gonna really do it, Johanna?” she whispered.
“Shh,” Johanna hushed. “Let him concentrate.” She reached out to take Karen’s hand with her free hand in a silent signal to remain quiet. What she found was a hand quite a bit larger and hairier than she anticipated. The hand squeezed hers in silent communication, and Johanna about jumped out of her skin. She squealed. Robby startled, lost his balance, windmilled, then fell into the water. He came up sputtering.
“That was fun. Can I do it again?”
“My turn!” claimed Karen.
Hunter whirled around. “Where are Aaron and Mikie?” he asked, his heart suddenly in his mouth.
“Aaron’s showing Mikie the other pool. I wanted to watch Robby.”
The other pool? The diving well? Johanna took off at a run, Hunter, who’d been frantically sweeping the area with his eyes, in hot pursuit. “Oh, my God,” he said. “Oh, my God.”
Johanna could see the two little ones leaning over the edge, marveling over, what, the depth of the water? The design on the bottom? Who knew? The swimmers in the other lanes were so involved in their workouts no one else had noticed the tykes, either. Hunter broke into a sprint, passing Johanna as she detoured by the lifeguard stand and grabbed a rescue tube. Hunter had almost reached the pair when Aaron, the four-year-old, slipped on the wet tile and went in, taking little Mikie with him.
“Damn,” he said, and dived in, shoes and all. He overshot the pair, who’d already begun to sink and had to turn around, flailing a bit as he trod water and furiously swiped chlorinated water out of his eyes. “Aaron! Mikie!” There! He dived down, but missed and had to come up for air.
Johanna, meanwhile, took the time to kick off her shoes so she wouldn’t be so weighted down, tucked the rescue tube under her arms and used a stride entry. Bedlam was rapidly breaking out with shrieking seven-and eight-year-olds alerting the rest of the coaches to the problem. She positioned herself over the children and, holding the tube by its long strap, let her hands come down to her sides, then raised them rapidly up over her head and torpedoed straight down. Coming up behind Aaron, she slipped an arm around him and kicked hard, propelling herself to the surface. She handed him off to Hunter, took a deep breath and went back down.
The smaller one, Mikie, was already limp. Johanna brought him up, then, on her back, pulled him over to the side. The coach of the nine-and ten-year-old group leaned over the side and took the child from her. Johanna put her hands on the pool’s edge and lifted herself out.
No need to check the older one. He wailed loudly and hiccuped while squeezing Hunter’s neck and being squeezed in return. In true parental fashion, Hunter alternately comforted and berated. “It’s okay, you’re all right. You ever do anything like that again, I’ll drown you myself. Are you sure you’re all right? When I tell you to stay put, you need to stay put, hear me? It’s okay, calm down. You’re strangling me. I’ve got to check Mikie. Oh, God, something’s wrong with Mikie.”
Mikie had swallowed a major portion of the pool, Johanna suspected. The other coach had him flat on his back on the pool deck by the time Johanna had lifted herself out of the water. Together they tipped his head back to open his airway. Johanna put her face down close to the toddler’s and listened hard while she watched his chest.
“Anything?” the other coach asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t think he’s breathing.”
There was a communal sharp intake of breath.
“Not so close, people,” the other coach exhorted. “Give us some room here.”
Hunter pushed his way in and knelt by Mikie’s head, wanting to do something but feeling helpless. His eyes followed Johanna’s every move as she pinched Mikie’s little nose and breathed gently into him twice. Hunter watched her face while she searched the side of Mikie’s neck with two fingertips.
“He’s got a pulse,” she announced, and everyone simultaneously sighed. “Call an ambulance, though. He’s not breathing.” Johanna pinched Mikie’s nose and took a breath. Just as she was prepared to deliver it, Mikie began to gag. Moving quickly, she rolled him onto his side, where he proceeded to upchuck what appeared to be a major portion of the water from the diving well all over her, and began to cry. Johanna propped him there on his side so he wouldn’t choke, then sat back and closed her eyes.
Hunter scooped up his nephew and held him tightly against his chest. The pressure of the hard squeeze had Mikie upchucking once more, this time down Hunter’s back, but Hunter didn’t care, he just didn’t care. His inexperience and ineptitude hadn’t killed anyone. That was what counted.
“Thank you, God,” he prayed.
“Amen,” whispered Johanna.
Hunter stood up, dripping water, shoes squishing. He had Mikie in his arms and Aaron very quickly attached himself to one leg like a little leech. Karen claimed the other leg and Robby grabbed him from behind. He stood there like an oak and let his heart settle back down into his chest.
“Thank you,” he told Johanna gravely, very impressed with the way she’d handled the crisis. She was not just good with children, she was also an incredibly competent woman. Also sexy. Let’s not forget the sexy. He became more determined than ever to get to know her.
“You’re welcome,” she said every bit as gravely.
The coach of the eleven-and twelve-year-olds began to usher people away. “All right, everybody, excitement’s over. Let’s go finish up. I think tomorrow it might be a good idea if we did some pool safety stuff.”
